This invention relates generally to the field of plant supports, and more particularly is directed to a foldable construction comprising a plurality of two basic interchangeable elements.
When growing vegetable plants, particularly plants of the vine type such as tomatoes it has been the common practice to provide some method of elevating the plant as it grows to prevent the fruit from contacting the ground and thus spoiling. Prior workers in the field have employed such simply constructed devices as elongated stakes which can be set in the ground adjacent the plant and then the plant is tied to the stake as it grows. This type of device is generally unsatisfactory in that it requires considerable maintenance and that it is quite difficult to tie the branches to the stake for support purposes.
Other workers in the field have attempted to encircle the plant with a semi-rigid type of construction to thereby provide support for the branches as the plant grows. Most encircling type of supports have been simply constructed of wire fencing materials which are cut to size, rolled to a cylindrical form and then tied to thereby provide a cylindrical plant support. Such wire type supports are generally satisfactory when in use and well serve the purpose of supporting the branches of the plant as it grows within the area defined by the circular side wall construction. However, difficulties arise after completion of the growing season when it is desired to store the cylindrically formed material for use during next growing season. The cylindrical nature of the device provides a bulky, space consuming construction which requires an inordinately large area during the winter months to simply store a plurality of such plant supports. When the prior workers have attempted to open the cylindrical retainers to thus store the wire fencing in flat form, it has been found that considerable time and effort must be spent to uncurl the cylindrically formed material prior to achieving a relatively flat configuration. Also, after flattening the previously cylindrically bent wire fabric, the cut wire ends provide a plurality of relatively sharp points which could cause painful and even dangerous cuts when attempting to straighten and store the material.